Five Stars for the Concept, Three for the Execution: My Online Tutoring Experience with Preply

Lyrika (you can skip this):

I have to admit, a year ago I'd have laughed at the idea of working with an online tutor. I thought Skype lessons were a total waste of money. What's better than a real teacher sitting next to you, seeing your notes and movements? They can point out exactly where you made a mistake. I'm not a fan of self-study, to be honest. I think it's way more effective to learn from a pro, so I've been working with tutors in school and later on when I went for my second degree, but this time online. And every time, these sessions gave me the results I needed, so I have nothing bad to say about online tutoring in general. But, like I said, that was my experience with a real teacher, not someone on the other side of the screen.

Life's unpredictable, to say the least. Last April, I was taking my second-semester exams to get my second degree, and I had a stable job at a government school back home. Fast forward to this year, and I'm living and working in China! If you're interested in how and why this happened, feel free to check out my review on finding a decent, well-paying job in China without getting scammed, and also my review on that TESOL certification nonsense.

And, of course, I never could've imagined I'd have to learn Chinese. With my C2 English, B2 French, and A2 Spanish, I thought I was set for life. But, thanks to some great education reforms, I had to look for work abroad. And, let's be real, my requirements weren't exactly simple: I wanted a decent salary, good working conditions, and for everything to be completely legit. So, basically, my only option was to head straight to Asia, and more specifically, China.

Now, I've been living in China for about six months, and I've got zero knowledge of the language. I've been getting by with just three words: nǐ hǎo, xǐe xiè, and Wèixìn. Of course, that was enough for basic stuff like buying groceries, but eventually, reality hit me, and I realized that a year of work here wouldn't cut it – I'd probably end up emigrating on a permanent visa. So, I guess I'll have to learn Chinese.

I went about finding a tutor the usual way, but it wasn't that easy. The city I'm in is small, and foreigners are a rare sight. No one knows how to teach them, and the local education authorities are super strict (I had to go to the education department for a consultation). Teachers aren't allowed to tutor privately, and with their salaries, they don't need to, anyway. Working for the government in China is a big deal, unlike back home. The only people who can take on part-time work are students, but after talking to a few of them, I realized it's a waste of money.

Trying to learn the language on my own just made me realize that it's like an alien language – completely inaccessible to mere mortals.

I was on the brink of giving up when I stumbled upon an ad for online tutoring websites. After researching the concept, I started looking for one with a higher rating and more decent reviews. And that's how I found the hero of this review.

Site Details:1. Name: Preply

2. Type: online platform

3. Purpose: organizing online tutoring

4. Address: [link]

5. Services: tutor search, student search

6. Learning Type: language learning.

Let's cut to the chase, they won't teach you math or physics here. But here are some stats on the number of tutors for the top nine languages:

Promises: It all sounds too good to be true, like they've assembled the best minds from around the world to spread knowledge to the masses at affordable prices.

They also promise fast learning - who wouldn't want to believe that?

Overall, I got the impression that the tutors are top-notch, certified, and trained in accelerated learning methods.

Marketing-wise, I'd give them a solid 5 out of 5.

Reality: Now, let's take off those rose-tinted glasses and take a closer look. I clicked the 'Become a Tutor' button and read the guidelines:

I think it's pretty clear what's going on here, and I don't need to make any harsh comments. This leads us to the fact that the website is basically a train station for unqualified tutors. What's the danger? Well, if you don't know the language yourself, it's hard to evaluate the teacher's level. And in the tutor's profile, they might claim to have a diploma from Oxford or a C1 level of language proficiency, or whatever. And, of course, many do. And, trust me, it's twice as hard to re-teach the student after a tutor like that. So, don't rush to hand over your money, and make sure to check the tutor three times, but don't rely on the website to do it for you.

9. What to do? You've got a few options here.

The easiest one is to ask someone who's got a decent level of language proficiency for help. All tutors have a short video presentation. Believe me, even a minute-long video can give you a good idea of their pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary.

That's what I did - I recorded a video of the tutor's presentation on my phone and sent it to a Chinese colleague for a check.

The more complicated option is to contact the tutor via private message and ask them a few questions from any Advanced-level test. There are plenty of those online. Then, compare their answers with the test keys.

And the third, not 100% reliable but still useful option is to ask them how much you can achieve in six months and how many classes you'll need per week. If they promise you can go from A0 to B2 in six months with just two classes a week, run away from that tutor as fast as you can.

10. Pros and cons of the website:

- You've got a huge catalog of tutors to choose from.

- The website acts as a middleman, so there's no chance you'll pay for classes and the tutor will disappear with your money.

- The website lets you estimate how many classes you'll need to reach your desired level (although I'm not sure what they're basing this on). For fun, I entered a query to reach A2 level in six months - the calculator suggested I buy 10 classes a week.

- The website integrates with Google Calendar and can remind you of your classes.

- It's got a user-friendly and intuitive interface.

- There's plenty of information about the tutors (although it's written by them themselves, which you can read in the cons). You can see their video presentation, the number of classes they've taught, and user reviews.

- If you buy a class from a tutor and they raise their prices later, the price you paid will stay the same.

- You're on your own, no one checks the tutors. What you get is what you pay for.

- The website takes a double commission. The class price is one thing, but when you pay, they'll ask you to pay extra for 'buying' the class. And when your tutor withdraws the money, they'll take a penalty too. I'd rather see the price of the class with all the extra fees and penalties included, rather than discovering them when I'm paying.

- I was excited to try out the beta version of the 'Preply Space' interface for online lessons, which was supposed to replace Skype. But, let's be real, it's a beta, so it's bound to have some glitches. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to work properly, so I ended up switching to Skype with my tutor.

- About two weeks after my first lesson, the site was supposed to prompt me to write a review about my tutor. But, it never happened, and I had to search around to figure out where and how to do it.

11. My Experience: Weirdly enough, I found my tutor right away. I'm not sure if it was luck or fate, but I'd searched for tutors on the site a few times before deciding to book a trial lesson, and each time, I'd ended up contacting the same teacher. In the end, I recorded a video for my colleague to review, and I messaged the teacher directly. I liked that he didn't promise me the world. Instead, he told me about the program he uses, and he didn't try to push me into booking a ton of lessons to make more money. As soon as my colleague confirmed that the teacher's Chinese skills were on point based on the video, I paid for the first lesson. Do I need to say that I'm still taking lessons with this teacher? We've had over 20 sessions, and I'm really happy with the progress I've made.

Conclusion:

I'd definitely recommend [link], but with a big caveat: you need to be careful when choosing a tutor and not just trust the site blindly.